Prime Minister Stephen Harper fired the starting gun early on Canada's election campaign amid polls showing his Conservative government's nine-year reign is threatened by a leftist party that's never held power nationally.

China's leadership is preparing fresh fiscal spending to ensure that signs of economic weakening don't put their 2015 growth target out of reach, a danger that was underscored by a deterioration in manufacturing in July.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced pressure from conservative allies on Sunday to run for a fourth term in 2017 after an opinion poll showed they could win an absolute majority if an election were held next week.

President Barack Obama will unveil on Monday the final version of his plan to tackle greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants, kicking off what is expected to be a tumultuous legal battle against federal environmental regulators by the coal industry and its political allies.